DCFS tells its flaws to court

Plan to improve services outlined

A third of the roughly 10,000 mentally ill wards of state are not receiving services for their needs, according to a legal brief filed Friday by the state in U.S. District Court.

The 34-page document, obtained by the Tribune Friday night, gives an overview of the state child welfare system's flaws and planned improvements.

It notes that more than 1,000 caseworkers from private agencies have been terminated in the last three years for their poor performance, and the average number of moves for children in care has increased over the last three years, with more than one-fourth of them being moved five or more times.

Attorneys with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services filed the brief in response to a request by U.S. District Judge John F. Grady, who is overseeing a 12-year-old federal consent decree between DCFS and the American Civil Liberties Union.

At a hearing last month, Grady asked DCFS officials to compile statistics on incompetent caseworkers, failing private agencies and inadequate access to mental health services for state wards.

Grady's orders came in response to letters from Cook County Public Guardian Patrick Murphy, who filed suit in state court last April to force DCFS to reduce the number of moves by foster children.

On Saturday, Murphy said he had not yet read the brief and declined to comment.

To help reduce the number of moves and better assess the needs of youths, DCFS plans to create an assessment program in January, according to the filing. A unit created by the program will consist of 58 mental health professionals to conduct "in-depth assessments," determine the needs of children and identify appropriate homes.

The program, which will get $8.8 million in DCFS funds annually, aims to find "service gaps." The information will help determine which agencies are awarded DCFS contracts in the subsequent fiscal year.

DCFS said the assessment program would address Murphy's concerns.

DCFS officials say they are also working to establish an office of mental health services, according to the document.

Fewer abuse hot-line investigations in recent years have resulted in fewer children in the system. Since 1999, roughly 300,000 calls have been made to the hot line every year, but only 20 percent have been subject to a formal investigation, according to the document.

DCFS officials said they plan to "enhance" the monitoring of private agencies and the process by which the state enters into contracts with them. The department said it has "demonstrated a strengthened ability and willingness to deal with agencies not performing satisfactorily." DCFS cites Maryville Academy, a beleaguered facility to which the agency stopped sending state wards last December, as an example.

DCFS authorities said the state database "does not record data on the needs children may have," according to the document. "DCFS cannot quantify on a systemic basis the unmet services of its population."

In the last three years, the youth population under care is a slightly older group, and an increasing number are cared for in Downstate facilities, the brief indicated.

Although youth emergency shelters run by Maryville Academy were originally intended to take youths new to the child welfare system, more than half of the admissions are wards already in care who are experiencing a disruption.

Although data suggested children entering the system are becoming increasingly more stable, "the rising population of children who experience a large number of moves is of great concern."

Lastly, the state is monitoring its youth in residential care to study whether they are "getting better or worse under the treatment provided in each program."

Benjamin Wolf, an attorney for the ACLU, said Saturday he still was studying the brief and would be consulting child welfare experts to prepare for discussion at a hearing Tuesday before Grady.

"The proposal for significantly upgrading the process of assessing kids' needs is a positive one," Wolf said.